Trump targets NPR, PBS, foreign aid in $9 Billion spending cut

Gregory Korte and Erik Wasson, Bloomberg News on Apr 14, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will ask lawmakers to cut more than $9 billion in funding for the Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio and foreign aid in the current fiscal year, an attempt to employ a little-used legislative tactic for reducing spending already approved by Congress.

The proposal — known as a rescission package — would codify cuts identified by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. That effort, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has targeted government spending seen as being at odds with the president’s agenda.

The package would cancel funding for foreign aid grants in the U.S. Agency for International Development’s budget as well as for smaller agencies targeted for closure by Trump like the U.S. Institute of Peace, according to a White House official familiar with the plans.

The proposal would end funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR, entities which have long been targeted by conservatives for alleged liberal bias. Trump has derided the outlets as being unfavorable to him and a drain on taxpayer money.

PBS and NPR receive a small portion of their funding from federal sources, with the radio broadcaster pulling in 1% directly from U.S. government sources. PBS’s budget includes 16% of its funding from the federal government. The networks also receive money from sponsors and individual donors.

The White House plans to send the package to Congress when lawmakers return from their Easter recess on April 28, the official said. That would start a 45-day period during which the administration can legally withhold the funding. If Congress votes down the plan or does nothing, the administration must release the money back to the intended recipients.

The package can pass the Senate with just 50 votes rather than the usual 60 votes. Congress can amend the package, removing cuts it doesn’t favor.

The spending cut package was a key request of conservative lawmakers who reluctantly voted for a budget proposal this month to fast-track $5.3 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years. The budget requires just $4 billion in cuts over a decade and conservatives, including Senator Ron Johnson, said they would only support the budget based on the promise of codifying DOGE cuts in the future.

The White House is submitting the proposal under the Impoundment Control Act — a 1974 law that Trump says is unconstitutional because it requires the president to spend congressionally appropriated money even if he disagrees. Lawsuits filed regarding the dismantling of USAID and other agencies have alleged the actions violated the law and Congress’s underlying power of the purse.

Presidents have used the rescission procedure just twice since 1979 — most recently for a $15 billion spending cut package by Trump in 2018. That effort failed in the Senate.